HOF Profile: Goose Gossage
Could it finally be, someone who I'd actually vote for on my imaginary ballot?
Rich "Goose" Gossage - Closer
Chicago White Sox 1972-1976
Pittsburgh Pirates 1977
New York Yankees 1978-1983, 1989
San Diego Padres 1984-1987
Chicago Cubs 1988
San Francisco Giants 1989
Texas Rangers 1991
Oakland Athletics 1992-1993
Seattle Mariners 1994
8th year on the ballot
Past HOF Voting Results
2000: 33.27%
2001: 44.27%
2002: 43.01%
2003: 42.14%
2004: 40.74%
2005: 55.23%
2006: 64.61%
Awards
1978 AL Rolaids Relief Award
All-Star Selections: 9 (1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985)
League Leader
1975: Saves
1978: Saves
1980: Saves
Career Ranks
Saves: 17th
Games: 10th
K/9: 40th
ERA+: 55th
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Pitching - 9 (248) (Average HOFer ≈ 40)
Gray Ink: Pitching - 41 (580) (Average HOFer ≈ 185)
HOF Standards: Pitching - 19.0 (312) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Pitching - 126.0 (61) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Pitchers in HOF: 2 (Rollie Fingers, Hoyt Wilhelm)
Other Similar Pitchers: Lindy McDaniel, Stu Miller, Gene Garber, Kent Tekulve, Tug McGraw, Sparky Lyle, Roy Face, Mike Marshall
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1972: 3/0.2
1973: 0/-0.5
1974: 4/1.9
1975: 23/10.5
1976: 10/4.7
1977: 26/10.5
1978: 20/7.8
1979: 11/4.0
1980: 18/6.2
1981: 12/5.9
1982: 17/7.4
1983: 16/7.1
1984: 15/5.1
1985: 15/4.4
1986: 5/1.5
1987: 7/3.3
1988: 4/1.3
1989: 5/1.4
1991: 3/1.8
1992: 2/1.1
1993: 3/1.8
1994: 4/2.0
Career Win Shares: 223
Career WARP3: 89.5
Would he get my vote?
...No. Like I said in the Lee Smith entry I just have a hard time viewing someone who spent their career primarily as a reliever as being a true Hall of Famer. I absolutely agree that Gossage is much more deserving of enshrinement than that of Bruce Sutter. What's funny is that if Gossage had retired at 35 like Sutter did he probably would already be in the HOF as his greatness as a closer would have been remembered better by the short attention span of the writers. Gossage retired nine years after his last good season as a closer after bouncing around several teams as a moderately effective, situational reliever and he gets unfairly penalized for it. I will not argue with anyone who says Gossage deserves to get in and I will have no problem if he ever gets in, which I think will happen eventually after the big jump in support he's received the last couple of years. But on my imaginary ballot I just can't put him down.
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